The inauguration of our Alabama constitutional officials was Monday. Our state constitution calls for the inauguration to be held on the third Monday in January. As you would expect and as almanacs suggest, it is usually a cold day.  Over the years, I have had countless folks harken back to their high school band experiences […]

The Federal Trade Commission is proposing banning non-compete clauses in labor contracts. What are these clauses’ pros and cons, and will a ban benefit workers? Non-compete clauses prevent employees from working for a competitor or starting their own business. The prohibition is limited over time and geography and usually only for closely related jobs. An […]

It’s always fun to see current lists of names parents are choosing for newborns. According to two articles lately in “The New York Post,” television and popular music influences many name choices, giving new impetus to Robin, Maxine, Elle, Mike, Billie, Jolene and Cosmo. But, conversely, some of the more popular names this year seem to be fading: Olivia, Emma, Liam […]

Bibb County Deputy Brad Johnson was a good friend of the Weaver family who knew he could always stop by our house for a warm welcome and good conversation while on patrol in our area, so it hit close to home – both emotionally and geographically – when he was murdered at essentially the foot […]

Five hundred years ago, the theology of Protestant Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli was designated the official religion of Zurich. The rumblings of the Reformation were just starting. As education expanded, literacy allowed more people to read the Bible, increasing curiosity about theology. Families sent their best and brightest sons to become ordained priests. Seminaries become […]

Radio signals used to be hard to come by in certain parts of the country. I’ve always loved the news and talk format, but couldn’t pick it up too well when we moved to a Christian college in a rural area. The nearest talk station was about 30 miles away and the signal was faint. I often […]

The City of Dothan, Mayor Mark Saliba, and the Dothan City Commissioners recently said yes to building a new economy based on scientific discovery, innovation, and education. In doing so, they said yes to future opportunities, yes to a better quality of life, yes to better jobs for local young people, and yes to an […]

A fiasco involving tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has renewed calls to break up Ticketmaster through anti-trust.  While many commentators have weighed in on the website crash, I will discuss Ticketmaster’s alleged monopoly. Is Ticketmaster responsible for high priced concert tickets? The demand to break up Ticketmaster relates to its 2010 merger with concert promoter Live […]

It’s taken awhile to get accustomed to the new computer, but I’m beginning to like it more and more. But not at first. My old one was almost 10 years old, but quite serviceable until the case cracked. It lived because of my friends, the geeks. I’ve always tried to be especially nice to two […]

What is time? We are all slaves to it. We plan our lives by it. However, few of us can actually give a workable definition to the thing that controls our lives like a puppet master. Few of my close friends have ever seen me without a time piece affixed to my wrist. I am […]

Every December Santa delivers toys, games, and electronics to children across our nation.  Yet residents of the North Pole buy almost nothing from us, producing a massive trade deficit.  Santa’s gift-giving offers perspective on international trade in addition to spreading Christmas joy. What do we learn from our Santa trade deficit?  For one, our trade deficit (or surplus) with any […]

If ever you have the chance to visit Athens, Alabama, please do.  For seven wonderful years I was blessed to serve as Pastor of First Baptist Church in Athens.  I love the place dearly. No visit to Athens would be complete without viewing the courthouse.  The courthouse was built at the turn of the last […]

Every year for the past 60-something years, Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which lays out our nation’s defense priorities for the upcoming year. I’ve written before about how important the NDAA is both for our district and for the United States, as a whole. Last week, the House passed the final […]

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX imploded in November.  The company and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) attained incredible notoriety in a short time and a $32 billion valuation before the bankruptcy. Does the collapse demonstrate problems with markets or government regulation of markets? Details continue to emerge.  I will assume that FTX was basically a scam, based on a statement […]

Allow me to share the stories of three of my favorite legislative colleagues. Two of these gentlemen are retiring from the Alabama House of Representatives this year, and one passed away in April. Representative Victor Gaston of Mobile and Representative Howard Sanderford of Huntsville are going home. A third legend and true gentleman, Steve McMillan […]

Like many of you, I was not shocked by the release of the Twitter files over the weekend. If you are unfamiliar with what the Twitter files are, they simply proved what we’ve all known to be true: Big Tech censored stories during the 2020 presidential election, including the truth about the Hunter Biden laptop […]

Brown University economist Emily Oster recently suggested a “pandemic amnesty” for “the many important choices we had to make under conditions of tremendous uncertainty.” Her essay has riled many libertarians still angry over the unprecedented restriction of freedom. If public health officials fully accepted the professor’s observations about uncertainty, I could accept letting bygones be […]

Students of Alabama political history will rightly remember the 2022 midterm election. This election saw the majority of Alabama voters cast their ballots for Katie Britt, who will be the first woman elected to represent Alabama in the U.S. Senate. Governor Kay Ivey easily coasted to victory to gain her second full term in office, […]

Four million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border since President Biden took office in January 2021 — which is almost 80% of Alabama’s total population. The Biden administration publicly touts that the border crisis is under control, while privately demanding that the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) resign. But the numbers […]

The House is back in session this week after a brief pause for Thanksgiving. We are in session for the next three weeks and have a few big things to accomplish, but I fully expect House Democrats to do all they can to ram through more junk in this lame-duck session since they have officially […]

Cooler weather has been ushered into Alabama and the frenzy around the recent election cycle has begun to calm ever so slightly. While the lack of a crimson tidal wave at the ballot box has created concern for conservatives across the nation, there remains hope in Montgomery and Washington better days are still ahead. In short, I am […]

It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is here already. I’m thankful to have a few days to spend with Tina, my kids, and my grandkids reflecting on the past year and all the many blessing in our lives. Thanksgiving is such an important time of year for my family, and I always enjoy revisiting how Thanksgiving […]

Saturday will be the 87th playing of the Auburn vs. Alabama football game. The stakes may not be as high this year, but there will be no shortage of passion for either team. This is the 51st anniversary of my first Iron Bowl, and I’ve attended more than half the games during that period in three different […]

Canada’s Fraser Institute just released the 2022 Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) index. The good news: Alabama’s economic freedom increased slightly. The bad news: we still trail three neighboring states. Economic freedom refers to freedoms to buy, sell, work, and start businesses. A free economy relies on “personal choice and markets to answer basic […]